Why these ingredients
GRASS-FED TALLOW
The base, and where this balm started. Its fats are similar to the ones found in skin's natural oils. On its own it can feel heavy, which is what the next ingredients fix.
HIGH-LINOLEIC SUNFLOWER OIL
The usual knock on tallow is that it's lopsided: very little linoleic acid, the omega-6 found in skin's natural oils. High-linoleic sunflower fills that gap and lightens the feel.
SQUALANE
Your skin makes its own squalene. Squalane is its stable form: light, and slow to go stale.
MEADOWFOAM SEED OIL
Mostly long-chain fats, which makes it very stable. It gives the balm its cushion and helps keep the sunflower oil fresh.
COCO-CAPRYLATE/CAPRATE + RICE BRAN WAX + BEHENYL ALCOHOL
The slip and the structure. A coconut-derived emollient gives silky glide without silicones, and the plant wax and fatty alcohol give the balm its body: firm in the jar, smooth as it melts, with a soft, velvety feel once it's on. (Behenyl alcohol is the soft kind of alcohol, not the drying kind.)
VITAMIN E + ROSEMARY EXTRACT
These look after the oils, not your skin. They slow oxidation, so the balm stays fresh longer.
